1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transfer sheet for producing a dry transfer material and, more particularly, relates to a sheet on which a dry transfer image that may be subsequently transferred to a receiving material can be produced.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a device for producing dry transfer material which comprises a transfer sheet for dry transfer material and a ribbon cartridge in which an ink ribbon for producing the dry transfer material is stored has been developed and used widely. One such device, Tape Printer "P-touch" manufactured by Brother Industries, Ltd. is well known. A thermal head is installed in the device for producing the dry transfer material. The ink ribbon is brought in contact with a transfer sheet by the thermal head and a number of heating elements, aligned on the thermal head, are caused to generate heat according to electrical signals whereby the ink on the ribbon in contact with the heating elements is heated through a base sheet of the ribbon and fused onto the transfer sheet. Therefore, the dry transfer material, which has the desired ink transfer image such as the character or the figure, can be produced.
And, as shown in FIG. 7, a conventional transfer sheet to be used for producing the dry transfer material comprises a transfer sheet 1 and a surface treating layer 12 provided thereon. Further, as described to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.63-128987, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.2-74393, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.2-81682, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.2-81683, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication NO.2-81685, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.2-81686, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication NO.2-81687, the surface treating layer 12 may be composed of one or more kinds of material such as polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-ethyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer, ionomer resin, ethylene-methacrylic acid copolymer, silicon and fluorine compounds. Such surface treating layers 12 are provided so that the thermo-sensitive adhesive power between the transfer sheet 1 and the ink transfer image is increased, and the ink transfer image formed on the transfer sheet 1 by the thermo-sensitive ink can be transferred effectively to the receiving material by applying pressure.
The user installs a ribbon cartridge, in which an ink ribbon for producing dry transfer material is stored, in the device for producing the dry transfer material. The user then inputs the characters or figures, by means of a key board or other external data source, the user wants recorded on the dry transfer material. Following the data input, the heat-generating elements of the device corresponding to characters or figures to be recorded are heated according to the input character and figure data. The ink from the ink ribbon for producing the dry transfer material is transferred to a surface treating layer 12 on a transfer sheet 1, whereby the dry transfer material, that is the transferred image consisting of characters and figures formed on the transfer sheet 1, is produced. To use the dry transfer material, the user presses the dry transfer material against a desired surface and transfers the ink image to the surface with the application of pressure to a side opposite the ink image.
However, with current transfer materials, there is a problem that the quality of the transferred image is not good after being transferred from the dry transfer material to the receiving surface.
To transfer the known dry transfer material, the user must place the side of the transfer sheet 1 having the ink transfer image in contact with the surface of the receiving material, such as paper, plastic, metal, or wood, and then the user must rub, for a long period of time, the back side of the transfer sheet 1.
However, it was difficult to obtain a high quality transferred image because collapse and spreading of the ink transferred image results if the transfer sheet 1 is insufficiently fixed with respect to the receiving material surface and the transfer sheet 1 shifts position during the rubbing and transfer.